The Greece and Turkey Trip in Review

After we returned, I wrote a little summary of the Study Tour for my Bible College’s magazine, Summa Supremo. I found it recently and thought I’d add here.

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
— 1 Peter 2:11–12

The most striking thing about being on tour in Greece and Turkey was the sense of being ‘sojourners and pilgrims’ — strangers in a strange land. It began in Greece because we were not in an English-speaking country, but in Turkey the sensation became acute. Each morning we awoke to the ‘call to prayer’ going out from the local mosque, so this 98% Muslim country felt like a strange place for a group of Christians to be.

On the other hand, in a country where we might expect both our religion and our culture to be bordering on offensive to the locals, it was striking to experience the wonderful, famous, Turkish hospitality! In this odd mixture of experiences we were on one hand confronted, and on the other disarmed.

Surrounded by so much that is foreign, it is little wonder that our group quickly formed a strong bond, forged in our shared faith in Jesus Christ. We rapidly developed rich relationships where we were sharing our stories, praying for one another, and in a beautiful expression of our unity, spontaneously bursting into song! This sense of being ‘sojourners and pilgrims’ provided a palpable link to the experience of the early church communities, which we don’t normally experience in Australia: we clung to one another, and to our identity in Christ, as a matter of cultural survival.

We visited some of the places where Paul spent substantial time, like Corinth and Ephesus, as well as many where Paul ministered. Along the way, each of us got a sense, sooner or later, of forming a connection with Paul, his journeys, his experiences and his ministry.

We went to the places that he wrote from and to; we saw the imposing temples, monuments, theatres, and impressive official buildings. We stood in the very spots where various events took place: where Paul reasoned with the philosophers on Mars Hill (Acts 17), where Gallio presided over the beating of Sosthenes (Acts 18), and where the riot occurred in Ephesus (Acts 19), just for examples.

However, God had prepared an even more important connection with Paul’s apostolic mission for us to experience: before our very eyes, a grown man came to faith in Christ precisely because the group’s authentic witness of faith, love and worship had forced him to concede that ‘surely God is among you’ (1 Cor 14:25). For the details of who, where, why and when, just ask anyone who was on the tour and they will be excited to recount the story for you. Suffice to say that St Peter’s advice (1 Peter 2:11-12), written to those living in the very areas we toured (1 Peter 1:1), was sage indeed, and truly prophetic.